Eli5 why is that an atom is 99,6 % empty space ?

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Eli5 why is that an atom is 99,6 % empty space ?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Its empty because the electron is extremely tiny and the nucleus is extremely tiny and once they come within that distance to each other, the electron cannot get any closer to the nucleus. The reason is why it can’t get any closer is not understood well.

The only explanation that I’ve come across is that the electron has no way to lose more energy, and it has to lose energy to come closer to the nucleus.

Also I say tiny just to answer the question which refers to an outdated(but still useful) model of the atom. There is no proper way to talk about the size of sub atomic particles. Nowadays atoms are modelled differently and the concept of emptiness becomes fuzzy.

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